Milling cedar logs

[Greg Cook]

How do y'all prefer milling ERC logs? Freshly cut off the stump, or having had some time to lie around a while. I was thinking that if it had a little seasoning, there would be less wood movement after milling. Thats the reason I have about 35 cedar trees lying around, with limbs still attached to hold the log off the ground (except for the end of the log, or course.)  I also thought leaving the limbs attached while dragging them to my sawing site would help keep the logs a bit cleaner. Let me know what you think.

Greg

[Tom]

Eastern Red and Southern red cedar is very stable.

Saw it right off of the stump.

If you saw it right away, the sapwood stays brilliant.
If you let the log lay, the sapwood turns yellow and will eventually rot.

The bright white and cream looks good against the red.  The yellow isn't as pretty.

Also, beetles will attack the sapwood on the logs if left out in the open long.
They can get into the sapwood of the boards too, but it is less likely.

I always felt that skidding a limby log turned it into a plow.

I like to trim the logs fairly close and keep the limbs for legs and chair arms.

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Also, if they are very dry, you will get a lot of fine dry sawdust flying everywhere.

[Cedarman]

If you leave the limbs on the logs while they dry, drying can occur too fast resulting in a lot of checking in the log.  In dry environments, best to cut down, delimb and saw.

[Greg Cook]

Thank you, sirs. I knew I could count on y'all for help.

Greg